Three Takeaways From Chiefs' Announcement of Josh Simmons Going on Injured Reserve

The Kansas City Chiefs face their toughest test yet on Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, and making matters worse is that the club will continue to be without the services of left tackle Josh Simmons.

Last year's first-round pick hasn't played in a game all season since sustaining a back injury in August, although he did return to practice last week on a limited workload. Unfortunately, that didn't wind up parlaying into getting on the game field, as the former Ohio State standout is set to miss even more time.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, team vice president of sports medicine and performance Rick Burkholder provided a complete breakdown of the Simmons situation. The star tackle has since been placed on the injured reserve list, meaning he's out for a minimum of four additional games.

A clip of Burkholder's statement is below — let's dive into it with three key takeaways.

We officially have an origin timeline for the Josh Simmons injury

Burkholder opened his media availability by pinpointing when Simmons first got hurt. It's now been over two months since the sophomore tackle first reported a calf issue that turned out to be a back one.

"On August 17, Josh came to me with calf discomfort and feeling that he couldn't post on a single leg in training camp practices," Burkholder said. "This was the same leg that he had knee surgery on in 2024. He was evaluated by our physicians who, thankfully, suspected a low-back injury instead of a lower-leg or knee ailment.

"We obtained an MRI in St. Joe that confirmed that he had a bulging, herniated disc in his lumbar spine. That disc problem was higher up than what we normally see in our offensive linemen, which complicated the case. We recommended a second opinion, as we always do with all of our injured guys and, through his agent and Josh, they selected a spine specialist in California that we have used previously and is really well-known in the NFL.

"He went there and was evaluated, and the recommendation was to do rehabilitation — not surgery — with the intent that we would do an MRI in the near future to see what that disc looked like. Josh continued to progress, and the repeat MRI a few weeks later showed that the disc improved, so no surgery was recommended and rehab would continue."

Head coach Andy Reid acknowledged the bulging disc late last month after previously being noncommittal — and even a bit mysterious — about a recovery timeline or return-to-play window. We now know what triggered Simmons' injury, how it was managed and why he didn't start the regular season on IR.

Simmons' return to practice gets cut short but provides much-needed clarity

When Simmons got on the practice field last Wednesday, it was indeed in an effort to evaluate his readiness and continued ramp-up period. It also got many in Chiefs circles buzzing about the much-anticipated season debut for one of the franchise's top young players.

Given that Simmons was a limited participant from there onward and then didn't get any work in this week, something appeared to be up. Burkholder revealed that Simmons simply isn't where he needs to be progress-wise.

"Throughout this process, we've had frequent communication with the second opinion, with our doctors and Josh and his agent," Burkholder said. "Josh worked his tail off. He worked diligently with my staff every day and has improved to the point where he returned to practice in a limited capacity last week. However, we feel that he's plateaued in the rehab process as he's trying to get to the final steps in recovery with return to competition. He's just not there yet."

Everyone then opted to take a break and come up with the best course of action for Simmons' health and eventual on-field viability.

"After discussion with Josh yesterday, we gave him some time to talk with his family and his representatives to investigate next steps as he goes through this process. That's why he was listed yesterday as both personal and with the back injury as we determined these next steps. He took the day off to get with his people."

Placing Simmons on injured reserve was a group decision

All of this culminated with Burkholder announcing that Kansas City would be putting Simmons on IR, which the club formally did later on Thursday. As a result, Simmons is ineligible to play versus the Seahawks or in upcoming contests against the Denver Broncos, New York Jets or Atlanta Falcons. The earliest he can return is Week 11 against the Arizona Cardinals.

It wasn't solely Simmons' call. Burkholder emphasized that the IR decision was a collaborative effort that included multiple medical teams, the Chiefs' coaching staff, the front office and, of course, Burkholder and Simmons themselves.

"It was decided and agreed upon by everybody — his people, his agent, him, myself, Andy (Reid), (Brett) Veach — that he should be placed on IR to give him more time to return to full function," Burkholder said. "He'll continue with the rehab process with the goal of returning to play at the high level he achieved in the past."

The organization's hope is now that Simmons will be able to play during the stretch run of the 2026-27 campaign. Surgery still isn't the optimal route, which is a silver lining in what's otherwise still a far less than ideal set of circumstances.

"I give a lot of credit to Josh, my docs, my physicians and my staff," Burkholder added. "I just give them a ton of credit for navigating through this injury to the point where surgery is not recommended and he just needs more time to return to full function."

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